The final judges’ scores were 114-113, 116-111 and 117-110. Gutknecht, 30, had a point deducted in the 9th round for pulling down on Braehmer’s head by referee Terry O’Connor. However, it immediately became clear that Braehmer was tired and was ducking his head down in a move that looked in appearances that he was trying to get points deducted from Gutknecht. It worked once, but O’Connor caught on to what Braehmer was doing and he stopped giving Gutknecht warnings.

Braehmer controlled in the first 9 rounds for the most part with the exception of the 6th. However, after the 9th, Braehmer looked tired and he was constantly ducking his head into the chest of Gutknecht, and occasionally falling down in a dramatic fashion.

Gutknecht definitely got the better of Braehmer in rounds 10, 11 and 12. However, he was so far behind in the fight that it didn’t matter; it wasn’t enough.

Braehmer suffered a cut on the right side of his right in the 4th round, but the cut wasn’t a factor in the fight.

With this victory, Braehmer now becomes the mandatory challenger for WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly.

***

Undefeated light heavyweight Robert Woge (11-0, 10 KO’s) defeated Hakim Zoulikha (18-4, 9 KO’s) by an 11th round TKO victory to capture the vacant IBF Intercontinental title. Woge had looked terrible until the 11th, when he knocked Zoulikha down. The fight should have been stopped at that point because when Zoulikha got back to his feet he was clearly too hurt to continue, but referee Randy Neumann let the fight continue. Zoulikha then immediately took a knee when Woge got close.